Non-rotational fixed fasteners are well known and employed in many panel assemblies. Use of such fasteners, however, requires accurate alignment of the assembled components since non-rotational fixed fasteners provide no alignment tolerance. To compensate for misalignment of mating components, usually a screw or bolt, non-rotational loose or floating nuts are employed on a base panel. Typically, such fasteners are mounted on the backside of a panel to which the screw or stud is applied.
Referring to FIG. 1, floating captive nuts are one type of non-rotational loose nuts that provide the needed alignment tolerance between mating components 10. The nut 8 of a floating captive nut is held by a cage 9 within a confined space but with sufficient clearance to allow the nut to linearly translate or “float” but not rotate. Typically, these nuts are multi-part assemblies such as the cage-nut construction seen in FIG. 1. This type of nut can adjust to allow easier alignment of blind mating parts. However, during insertion (assembly) of the stud, the entire blind assembly can be unintentionally pushed out of the receiving hole, which requires an expensive re-working of the assembly. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a floating flare nut that is captivated more securely to prevent push out.
The flare nut with a pre-formed square shank is another known non-rotational fastener. During assembly, the square shank is flared over a panel to provide float and retention. The pre-formed square shank flare nut has the disadvantage of being costly to produce. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a floating flare nut that is easily and inexpensively produced.